Smart Retail Tech 2024
DAY 1 (THE EXHIBITORS)
RARUK – the biggest distributor of robotics in the world was founded by five guys in Denmark and over the last 12 years has built itself up to be the best. Spanning multiple industries, RARUK robotics can help lift inventory and package products within warehouses or to automate tasking in bakeries and food and beverage settings.
TIKMarketing - combines entertainment with convenient shopping for customers. Powered through support from TikTok, TIKmarketing enables enhanced ecommerce live streaming. The company has been around between the last 6 months, leveraging TikTok for a whole year prior to that. The vision is for brands to sell their products through TikTok Shop, with TIKMarketing creating content for brands, including live streaming, strategy, and logistics.
VariusSystems (VS) - helps brands protect products with technology. VariusSystems operate globally, providing cloud-based digital identification solutions for brand protection, blockchain, and personal and object registration. VariusSystems offer card security through ID chips and ID cards for passport certificates. The NFT chip inserted into any product whether a beverage, stamp, or piece of clothing, generates a one time token link for secure pay.
Sticky.to – enhances customer engagement through digital solutions. Sticky’s are part of a ‘no-code’ ethos that the company employs to optimise navigation online. In retail, Sticky can be used for 24/7 shopping, offering discounts, loyalty points and exclusive content. Prove Anything – digital passports for consumer products. Designed with the idea in mind that labels on the back of products may not feedback all information in an easily digestible format.
Prove Anything - offers many solutions to today’s modern technology crisis. For example, QR code labelling, detailing food ingredients, allergens, clothing labels, washing instructions, and traceability of clothing on the back of packaging, remove jargon filled information. Using a mixture of RFID and NFC, Prove Anything enable customers easy transition when shopping, while offering retailers and brand the chance to increase loyalty and trust. Industries where this software solution is currently being implemented includes food and beverage, home appliances, clothing and apparel, and luxury goods.
DAY 2 (THE SPEAKERS)
Revolutionising Ecommerce: The Power of Product Customisation.
Myles Dickinson discussed his entrepreneur journey, having built his own company ‘Haze Customisation’ at age 19, going onto appear on popular show Dragons Den and receiving investment from Steven Bartlett. The key to Myle’s success? Utilising social media for selling products and understanding how to build own products through manufacturing processes. Haze offers brands and customers customisable credit cards, personalising products, integrating contactless payment methods. The merchant can customise cards, logo, names, and businesses, with Myles steering towards TikTok and Instagram as main source for reaching audiences.
Maximise performance with AI.
Ralph Aoun walked us through the benefits of AI, machine learning and automation in retail, specifically calling out use cases including Sephora, Coca Cola and Instacart. From working at Meta, Ralph describes serving customers around the world as his goal. Enhancing customer journey in-store through mobile applications and features can be pushed to all arenas in retail. AI is changing marketing and branding, removing long-held assumptions about customers by implementing a strategy that works. Grow brand awareness and shopping journey, reach new audiences through end-to-end automation, ‘Advantage + Shopping’ campaigns for creative audiences.
Ecommerce in a Post Brexit Era: Obstacles and Opportunities Aizad Hussain, CEO of Spring Logistics, a fulfilment, and warehouse business based in the UK and Netherlands discussed ecommerce and cross-border trading in Europe. The talk discussed making ecommerce flow, and how to trade in the post-Brexit world. For example, sellers misjudging costs leading to losses, changes in fulfilment pricing, stocks in different locations and compliance sorted by country. For retailers and ecommerce, deciding what your products are and the best location for them is crucial.
